Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Der var engang - En torsdag

The day started with group work, where we all had to prepare a 1 hour “workshop”, for some people from Activista. The goal is to learn what a good facilitator is, and yesterday we practiced our new found skills on the other volunteers on the platform. The rest of the time, we worked on our “drivers on change” assignment.
Later that day, I went together with some of the other volunteers, to see the Cremation at Pashupatinath. The place was beautiful, and it is easy to imagine why so many people would pay a lot of money to be cremated there. Unfortunately some of the charm of the place was ruined by the amount of garbage and the stream of foreign and Nepali tourists.
The day ended on a rooftop-reggae bar in Tamel. They had one Bob Marley number one repeat, but luckily a live band came on shortly after we sat down. And they didn’t play reggae, they played rock…. Thank god for that...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Video workshop and Bandh

Video workshop and Bandh
For the past 2 days we have participated in a video workshop. The purpose of the workshop was for us to get inspired to make a video during our volunteer-stay in Asia.
Tuesday, we learned theories and techniques about making short videos. Wednesday, we had the opportunity to try out the techniques and make our own short movie/documentary. At first, it seemed a bit overwhelming to create a plot, shoot and edit a movie in just half a day, but the results we came up with were actually very good.
We divided into small groups, and each of the groups chose different themes and genres for their movies. Some of the themes were: “The Bandh” (explained later), “Nepali dreams”, “loneliness” and “laughter”. It was quite interesting and funny making the movies and watching the results.
We believe that some of us might end up making short movies during our volunteer-stay.

The Bandh
There was a different atmosphere in Kathmandu today. There were no cars or motorbikes in the streets, and all the shops were closed.
The reason for this was the ”bandh”. A bandh is a sort of demonstration and in this case the bandh was caused by the high level of fuel prices. Students in Kathmandu were the ones to encourage people to demonstrate by not using any vehicles and keeping the shops closed. The demonstration was very peaceful and it was actually very nice to experience a quieter Kathmandu without all the cars and motorbikes.

- Benedikte, Stine and Bjørn

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Last Resort

The Last Resort – January 21 and 22

This weekend 21 young people were ready for leaving Kathmandu and go on a weekend tour filled with adventure. At 6 am we were ready in Thamel to go in the bus and drive almost 3 hours to resort. At Thamel we were split in to two busses – one for those who were going to the resort for bungy jumping and one for those who were going for river rafting.

The long drive to the resort were amazing (I was at sleep, but I was told it was a very beautiful and bumpy)

When we arrived at the resort all we could see was a river and a suspension bridge 160 meters above the ground– I looked at the other 5 guys and all looked a bit scared of the bridge. I must amide that a tear came down my chick when I was walking at the bridge, and at the same time we found out - this was the bridge were we should bungy jump.

Shortly after we arrived, two of us were sent out on the bridge to become ready for the jump. It was cold and windy at the bridge – and the stomach started to hurt. I was scared! Camilla was the first to jump “3,2,1 – JUMP” and Camilla flew – nice and easy down towards the ground. 20 long minutes later it was my turn. Now I was really scared and another tear started to run down my cheek. I was walking out on the platform – the instructor started counting “3,2,1 – JUMP” I froze – “I can’t do it” but the instructor just said I could and started counting again “3,2” and then I flew, screaming a lot.

Free fall 100 meters down – I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t see anything and couldn’t think about anything. Suddenly the rope pulled my legs – and I was back in reality – suddenly I could hear, see and think again – wow I just flew!

Now we only had 2 more jumping – the guys were very confident and both of them made the most amazing jumps! 4 people had jumped and now we deserved a drink – the best drink I’ve ever had ;)

The other guys were river rafting at the same time we were jumping – some had an amazing experience and were very happy when they got back at the resort – unfortunately one of the girls fell out of the boat and was hurt a lot. It had shocked some of the others – but all in all they had an amazing and different experience.

The next day 2 girls were bungy jumping and the rest of us had to do High rope – an obstacle course 10 meters above the ground. We had to climb between the treetops on different kind of obstacles.
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It was a weekend filled with action, fun and beautiful nature – and I think I can say for us all – The Last Resort is a place to visited! We had the most fun and amazing time.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Trekking to Chisopani and Nagarkort

16/01 Monday.
Today most of us came home from our trek. Early Saturday morning, the majority of us went to the mountains to trek. There were unfortunately some who were sick and had to stay home. The rest of us walked in 4-10 hours up the stairs and high mountains. When we all had reached Chisopani we ate supper together, however there were some who had been ill and therefore needed a taxi home. The next day the raster of us went to Nagarkot, another mountain. This trip was longer and many got sore feet. Today afternoone/evening we all returned to the platform were we relaxed and enjoyed the entire evening.
Marlena

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Friday we went to see an orphanage outside Kathmandu. When we arrived at the orphanage all the children stood waiting for us. At first we heard about the home, what they were doing right here for the children and what they are doing long term for the children. After the introduction we were divided into 3 groups and shortly after we all had i girl in our hand. Come my sister, was the words you could hear all over the place. the children was very excited to show us, how their room was like and how their music room was like. When you had time to look up, you could see the smile of the girl holding our hand. The time went by too fast and before you knew it, you had spent some of your most happy and cheerful hours with a child you had only knew for a few hours, but had already included you into her life. It was a day I will remember for a long time..
Friday we went to see an orphanage outside Kathmandu. When we arrived at the orphanage all the children stood waiting for us. At first we heard about the home, what they were doing right here for the children and what they are doing long term for the children. After the introduction we were divided into 3 groups and shortly after we all had i girl in our hand. Come my sister, was the words you could hear all over the place. the children was very excited to show us, how their room was like and how their music room was like. When you had time to look up, you could see the smile of the girl holding our hand. The time went by too fast and before you knew it, you had spent some of your most happy and cheerful hours with a child you had only knew for a few hours, but had already included you into her life. It was a day I will remember for a long time..

Thursday, January 12, 2012

First day in Kathmandu

Today we for the first time got to see Kathmandu on our own! We were very excited as we only had seen the city through the windows in a little bus which drove us from the airport to the platform in central Kathmandu.

We were given a task, e.g. finding the Napali word for "banana." Some of us ended up in Thamel while others stayed in the local area. As we were "newly landede tourists" many of us were having difficulties in navigating in the "price level". Many photos were taken - the raw meet beeing sold on little tables along the muddy steets and of the tiny, hobit-sized shops.

In the evening we all gathered back home at the platform and played hide and seek in the dark (electricity often goes).

Wednesday 11/01/2012 - Nepali

Namaste :)
Today we had Nepali language class where we among other learned to spell our own names in Nepali, to count and to say some phrases like; "khana ko lagi dhanyawad", which means "thank you for food", "kati ho?", which means "how much?", "mero nam Laerke ho", which means "my name is Laerke" etc. After another great lunch we talked about social change and development.
Some had the chance to learn how to cook traditional Nepalese food. Afterwards we had planned to go to the cinema, but as it often happens in Nepal it was closed because of technical problems. We decided to make our own cinema at the platform so we all gathered together and brought our blankets. -very nice! The hardest part was to pick a movie without anybody vetoing.
Feri vetaula, Laerke.

Cremation, marrige and Zurkhanah sport,

Today me and four others (Lea, Michala, Ida and Anna)went to the Pashupacinath aria where you can watch cremation and beautiful tempels. When a person is cremated you are burned naked, covered in layers, with the color white, red and orange/ yellow. The color white symbolize pureness and mooning (soerge). Red symbolize marrige and happiness (happiness because life is pain and now you are dead = happy. Orange/ yellow symbolize Holiness. The body has to be turned tree times before it is burned, because of the tree gods: Shiva, Vissnu and Brama. If you are not cremated as a Hindu you bring shame to your family. The cremation is placed at the river and there is a place for every caste.

At the Pashupacinath aria we meet a Hindu man who told us alot about marrige. The first year a woman is married she has to wear white (for pureness). They may not have sex with their husband and not attend any parties or ceremonies. If the woman becomes a widow she has to wear the white (for sadness) on till you die.

Later we went higher up and meet a group of young men (ca. 17 years) who were training the sprot Zurkhanah, which is a sport from Iran. It is not easy to described, but it was an experiences to remember.

Maj

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Visa, Fitness and Tuborg

Hi there!
The 21 of us who started at the platform on Jan. 6th, are slowly getting used to the way things are and the way things work in Nepal. A few of the girls have been sick but not severely.
It's somehow been hard to start writing on the GPN blog, maybe because of all the new and exciting impressions you get when you go to a new country with culture and customs almost opposite the Denmark. But we're here now.
Yesterday we had to clean the platform, but the eight of us going to India had to go to the Indian Embassy to apply for an employment visa. There has been some diplomatic tensions between Denmark and India which means that the Indian Embassy in Denmark wouldn't give us an employment visa. Therefor we had to try get one at the embassy in Kathmandu. It turns out, not surprisingly, that you can only apply for an employment visa from your home country. So, we're not going to India. Bummer! But we try to keep our spirit high. Looks like the eight of us, all are going to Sri Lanka instead. Then we have that to look forward to.
Yesterday we also got some free time to go to the local gym. The most of us went. Fun and different I tell you. Fun and different. Can't tell you that much more - I didn't go. I finally had a chance to read my book.
After dinner we went to a local bar. Hadn't really had a beer since New Years eve, so that was nice. They only sell Carlsberg and Tuborg. I think we'll come again. Wink, wink!

Jesper

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prøve

Monday, January 9, 2012

Temples

Monday 9/1 2012 we learned about different religions in Asia. Afterwards we drove to a temple 20-30 min. way, which were a hindu temple. At the temple there were hen sacrifices. In the evening we went to another temple called Boudhanath, but it closed at 7 pm and we were there at 8 pm. We got a glass of water at a restaurant, afterwards some people took home and other stayed.